Paul Passanante obtains $525,000 verdict on behalf of assault victim.
St. Louis County – A St. Louis County jury has awarded a Claire’s Boutique store clerk $525,000 against the man who orchestrated a physical attack on her at work the day after she turned in his teenage daughter for shoplifting. The jury returned the verdict on April 12, 2011 after a two-day trial.
On Friday, March 27, 2009, Erica Whitley was working as a clerk at Claire’s Boutique in the South County Mall. She observed a young woman place a necklace in a bag that she had brought in the store with her. She waited for the young woman to leave the store, and then confronted her. The young woman denied shoplifting, but when Erica Whitley asked her to remove the contents of her bag, the necklace fell out. Security was called, and the young woman who had stolen the necklace was identified as Paris Wells. Paris Wells then offered Erica Whitley $100.00 “to just be done.” Erica Whitley declined the bribe. Paris Wells was booked on a shoplifting charge, and released on a summons.
The following day, Saturday, March 28, 2009, Erica Whitley was again working at Claire’s Boutique in South County. She and another clerk observed a man acting suspiciously, walking in and out of the store, while talking on his cell phone. Eventually the man asked Erica Whitley where the key chains were. He then asked her what her name was, and Erica told him. Shortly thereafter, as Erica Whitley was checking out a customer, a young woman came up on her right and punched Erica in the face. The woman then used both hands to grab Erica by the hair and throw her on the ground. After Erica was on the ground, the man who had asked her name held her down as the woman punched, stomped on and kicked her. By the time they finished, Erica’s nose was bleeding profusely, she had bruises and abrasions on her side and left arm, and her left leg was bleeding from a gash that she suffered during the assault.
The assailants ran out of the store in different directions. Erica’s co-workers called the police, and attempted to help and console her, while they waited for the police and an ambulance to arrive.
The St. Louis County police officers involved in this investigation - Police Officer Dan Bradley, Police Officer Justin Jones, Detective John Bradley and Detective Chad Louis- testified as witnesses at trial. Officer Bradley was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene, and he obtained a description of the male assailant. As Officer Jones arrived on the scene, he observed a male subject running from the scene and another male subject pointing at the male subject running from the scene. Officer Jones apprehended the man running from the scene, and placed him in his patrol car. Officer Jones contacted Officer Bradley and learned that the man he had apprehended, by now identified as Mark Wells, matched the description of the male assailant. Mark Wells was driven to an area close to the mall, and the victim Erica Whitley, positively identified him.
The investigation revealed that Mark Wells was the father of the shoplifter from the previous day, Paris Wells. Mark Wells was booked on assault charges. He denied that he was involved in the assault, but admitted that he had been in the store when the assault occurred.
Police obtained Mark and Paris Wells’ cell phone records, which showed a number of calls between them around the time of the assault and showed that the calls were placed and received through a cell phone tower in the area of the South County Mall.
Paris Wells was brought in for questioning, and when confronted with the cell phone records, she confessed. She admitted to police that she had told her father about the shoplifting incident, and had given her father the name of the store clerk who had caught her shoplifting. She admitted to being in the parking lot of the South County Mall during the assault, and had picked up two women after the assault, and driven them to their home in Illinois, where her mother came to pick her up.
Mark Wells eventually pled guilty to assault.
Attorney Paul Passanante filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Erica Whitley, seeking actual and punitive damages against the Wellses and the female assailants. The case proceeded to trial against the defendants, but all defendants except Mark Wells were dismissed by the plaintiff before the case was submitted to the jury.
Mark Wells testified at trial. He repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions that he did not want to answer. He denied any involvement in the assault, saying that he did not even know that his daughter had been caught shoplifting the day before when he was at Claire’s Boutique shopping. Mark Wells testified that he did not know the person who assaulted Erica Whitley, and that he had tried to break up the fight before leaving. He challenged the plaintiff’s attorney to bring in the video surveillance from Claire’s, stating that it would prove his innocence.
Miranda Parks, an assistant manager at Claire’s at the time of the incident, was thereafter called as a witness by plaintiff. Miranda Parks testified that the devices which appear to be video surveillance cameras inside Claire’s are not functioning cameras; they have been installed with the hope that their appearance will deter shoplifters.
On April 12, 2011, the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff Erica Whitley for $25,000 in actual damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.